This is the second of a series of three voting stories. These stories first appeared in the March 2026 edition of the League of Women Voters of the Mother Lode’s Voter Newsletter.
Although the following stories are fictitious, they are based on conversations with three real women in our Mother Lode area who talked about how the SAVE Act would affect them if it passes the U.S. Senate, where it is now being debated. These women’s stories are like those of thousands of women across the United States.
I have only a first and middle name that are true to me. I can rely on them to accompany me for all my days. But my last name has had many faces. Now in my seventh decade, I must find a way to prove I am me and that I am a citizen of the USA because my last name is not the name on my birth certificate.
Let me explain: Why now, you may wonder? Have my representatives in Congress left me out on purpose, forgotten I exist, or don’t want a senior citizen like me to vote? Or have they just been negligent? NO … it is because there is now a misguided effort to safeguard our voting rolls from illegals. I say “misguided” because the new law casts such a wide net that this “reform” is creating disinterest in voting by eligible citizens.
I was born in New Jersey and voted for the first time there. My birth name was Marie Louise Merchant. When I married, I became Marie Louise White, and after my husband passed away, I remarried, and my name is now Marie Louise Dixon. I voted in my first election when I was 25.
Fortunately, that was after women first got the vote in the United States in 1920. I raised eight children in Ohio, and worked as an executive secretary for the mayor of Springfield before I recently moved to Nevada to help care for my new husband‘s dying brother. I am trying to register to vote in my new state, and yesterday I was told that in order to register in Nevada, I must now prove that I am a citizen of the USA. I cannot use my driver’s license, but must obtain a copy of my birth certificate, my first marriage license, and my second marriage license, and then drive fifty miles to an office with limited hours and present all these documents to register to vote. At my age, driving fifty miles round-trip in one day to wait and present these documents is a formidable obstacle. Also, obtaining copies of all these documents is an inconvenience, to say the least. The fees are not extreme but added up are between $100 and $200. Additionally, there is the time involved, and I also must produce an ID in order to obtain those documents. I discovered that neither my passport nor my Social Security card is sufficient because they both are in my second married name. I am offended that I must now prove I am an American citizen and bewildered to say the least that after voting in 12 Presidential elections, I now must prove I am an eligible voter. Maybe my vote doesn’t really matter. It is unlikely that I will complete this obstacle course. Marie Louise will now be silenced.
Also, I feel betrayed by our custom to change names when married. I advise every woman getting married NOT TO DO SO!
My first two names are all I have. The rest of my name has betrayed me.